I knew I needed a change when I hopped on the scale a week after Thanksgiving and the number flashed higher than it had ever been. Granted, it was a few days after I had two Thanksgiving dinners in less than 24 hours, but the persistent tightness of my clothing and my general sluggishness suggested that the extra pounds were more than just a few big dinners. After catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror after a shower one night, I thought to myself, 'I can't possibly be pregnant ... right?' Nope. My food baby had just become a permanent fixture.

Enter The Detox Diet. My eyes light up any time someone even mentions the word "detox." The idea of cleaning out my body and ridding it of all those nasty toxins (pesticides, pollution, junk food) is just too appealing for me to turn down, so I have some experience when it comes to extreme (and, all right, sometimes wacky) dieting measures.

The juice cleanse route isn't for me. While I lost five pounds in three days, I also lost my mind. Even though there's a lot of hype surrounding juice cleanses and many people swear by them, there's also a lot of conflicting opinions about their effectiveness. While I admit they're a good option if you need to drop a few pounds in a short amount of time, in my case, the weight always returns in a week -- and I want the extra baggage I've been carrying around gone for good.

That's why "Gutbliss," a book and diet approach written by integrative gastroenterologist Robynne Chutkan, MD, got my attention. Who better to tell me what to eat than a doctor who studies the digestive system? Drawing on the Hippocratic philosophy "Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine thy food," "Gutbliss" relates issues like acne, bloating, constipation, asthma, and even autoimmune diseases to the state of the gut. With a nutrition plan designed with gut-health in mind, Dr. Chutkan says you can get better skin, healthier looking hair and nails, a trimmer body, higher energy levels, and a digestive system that behaves itself. Plus, you get to eat three meals a day on the plan, and there's no calorie-counting. I can have my cake and eat it too! (Except in this case, the cake is actually a mound of kale.) I'm in.

Like I said, I'm currently at the heaviest I've ever been. While my BMI is well within a "normal" range, I just don't feel ... right, regardless of if a number says I'm normal or not. Since I believe my health is highly in tune with my intuition, I know I need to do something about that "not right" feeling. Here are my starting stats:

Height: 5'6"

Weight: 135

Energy Level: Extremely low in the early morning, with highs between 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., a low between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., and a certain crash (i.e., I'm drooling on myself) by 11:30 p.m.

Skin: Relatively clear, but with consistent hormonal (at least, that's what I'm chalking it up to) breakouts on my chin for the past couple of months.

After a phone call with Dr. Chutkan, who is like my animated, slightly sassy, super intelligent new BFF who talked me through all of my concerns ("What will I do without cheese?"), gave me a few pieces of sage wisdom ("Nothing good happens at Starbucks"), explained why Greek yogurt is the devil (!) and told me how a sense of girl power inspired this book (more on that later). I feel motivated to give this diet a real shot.

The Problem
Contributing to my recent weight gain is perhaps the fact that my kitchen is currently under construction. After starting demolition about a month ago, complications (read: termite damage) arose and the renovation has been put on hold for at least another two months. What's a girl who can't eat in to do? Eat out. Here's what a typical day looks like:

Breakfast: Coffee. That's it. I'm usually not hungry in the morning.

Lunch: I zap a frozen meal in the microwave. My go-to is Amy's Kitchen, known for being the healthiest of the frozen food options -- which is probably like being the smartest idiot, but it's quick and sort of tasty, and the "dairy and gluten-free" claims make me feel smart about my choices.

Afternoon Snack: Around 3 p.m., I start rooting around the office kitchen for a pick-me-up. I usually decide on a red Tootsie Pop to satisfy my sugar craving. And sometimes a handful of these delicious peanut-butter-filled pretzels they keep in there. (Yes, they're as amazing as they sound.) And occasionally a handful of trail mix. You know, for the fiber. (And the M&Ms. Mainly the M&Ms).

Dinner: After getting home and looking into the cold, dark cavern that is currently my kitchen, I usually walk down the street to the local pizza joint, where I order an overpriced vegetable pizza, or to the vegan Thai restaurant, where I order grilled dumplings and yellow vegetable curry with tofu. Since no dinner is complete without sweets, occasionally I get a fro-yo.

The Consequences
All this eating out is adding up. Even though I'm a vegetarian (and perhaps, as Dr. Chutkan suggests, because I'm a vegetarian and it's hard to find filling options), I find myself choosing carbs and cheese that will give me quick energy over pretty much anything else (like, you know, vegetables.) While I'm far from obese, I don't feel right in my slightly flabby skin. I'm afraid to even try on my "skinny" jeans when my normal stretchy ones feel like they're bulging at the seams.

What's more, I've noticed my skin has been worse than usual. While I don't have all-over acne, I have been dealing with some nasty bumps that seem to coincide with my recent transition into professional restaurant patron. These guys aren't like normal, surface acne, but rather deep cysts that spend weeks brewing under my skin before rising to the surface as a red and angry mess, intent on ruining my complexion (and life). This kind of acne is completely new to me, and I'm not sure if the acne is a result of hormones (since it seems to come back at the same time every month) or the increase in pizza in my life, but I know I want it gone. When Chutkan tells me that her patients with GI diseases often have rosacea, acne, and/or eczema that clears up once they switch their diet, a light bulb goes off in my head. I'm crossing my fingers that these breakouts are food related and mourning my all-cheese diet at the same time. Honestly though, there is no better motivation for cleaning up my diet than the promise of glowing, clear skin.

Wondering what a girl with zero intestinal symptoms and troublesome acne doing on a diet plan for people with digestive problems? Though "Gutbliss" is touted as a diet plan for those who are experiencing gastrointestinal problems like bloating, constipation and irritable bowel syndrome, those aren't its only benefits. Chutkan says there's a strong connection between our skin and our gut. What's going on in our intestines, she says, gets reflected in our complexion -- and vice versa.

"Everything you eat shows up on your skin," says Chutkan. "In addition to causing bloating, food allergies and food intolerances can lead to dark circles under your eyes, blemishes, rashes, and a puffy, swollen appearance. Likewise, your intestines can be thought of as the innermost layer of your skin, since much of what you put on your skin eventually gets absorbed."

Say what?

According to Chutkan, many beauty product chemicals (like sodium lauryl sulfate) strip the skin and make it easy for bacteria, viruses and other chemicals to make their way inside our body. Eventually, those chemicals get absorbed into the bloodstream and end up in your intestines.

So, with visions of clear skin (and a svelte body) dancing in my head, I'm willing to undergo 10 days of eating like a rabbit during the toughest time of the year to diet: the holidays.

While Chutkan provides a specific 10-day plan (with recipes!) in her book, she is the first to say that short diet plans are not what attaining "Gutbliss" is about.

"I don't endorse any particular way to eat, other than increasing things that are good for you and decreasing things that aren't, cooking most of your food yourself, as well as trying to be an ethical consumer," she explains.

Since I've never been the structured type, this is good news. Here, the rules of Gutbliss:

Don't Count Calories: ... or other nutrition facts. "Forget how many grams of protein something has and think about whether the food you're eating is helping you or harming you, whether it's just filler that's not making a difference either way, or whether it's even food at all."

So ... I can have as much food as I want? For a girl who has done her share of food-restricting diets and food-banning juice cleanses, this sounds like a 10-day walk in the park -- during which I'm shoving tons of food in my face.

Eat Real Food: "Food is something that's picked off a tree; plucked from a bush; dug up from the earth; caught in a river, lake, or ocean; or slaughtered so we can eat," writes Chutkan in her book. While we're surrounded by plenty of things to eat, none of it is actually food -- rather, she says, they're "edible, food-like substances with expiration dates that stretch on for years and ingredients you've never heard of." After checking out the ingredient list on my "all-natural" fruit pieces, which includes the chemicals citric acid and sodium citrate, I'm left wondering how much of what I'm consuming is actual food.

Avoid SAD GAS: In order to reach your GI happy place, Chutkan advises completely avoiding these while on the 10-day plan:

Soy
Artificial sweeteners
Dairy
Gluten
Alcohol
Sugar

These six things don't really fall into the category of "food" as described by Chutkan, so they're off limits. They're also some of the most common food allergens and sensitivities. "The point of taking these out of your diet is to be a bit of a medical detective," says Chutkan. Going cold turkey on these common irritants can help you realize what it is hard for your body to handle. "After the 10 days, let's say your skin clears up," she says. "If you start eating one of these things again, and you start breaking out again, you're going to be able to associate that with the addition of that food. It gives you motivation so you can see the cause and effect," says Chutkan.

Since four out of six of those listed would make my personal rendition of "My Favorite Things," this part of the challenge will be hardest for me.